Has Greece fulfilled all the conditions to receive the next bailout tranche of 2.5 billion euro? According to German deputy Finance Minister apparently not. In a letter to German Parliament (Bundestag) Steffen Kampeter claims, that the debt-ridden and slow-in-reforms country has completed 17 out of 22 required measures.
While Athens still struggles to identify several thousands of civil servants to be sent home, the Eurogroup finance ministers use the same old method to put Greece under pressure: blackmail.
“The European Commission notified Berlin Tuesday that it can’t vouch yet that Greece has fulfilled all the conditions to receive its next slice of bailout loans, Germany’s deputy finance minister said in a letter to the German parliament.
The decision means the next tranche of aid for Greece will likely be delayed, but there should not be any “serious” problem with the payment, one person familiar with the situation said.
Euro zone finance ministers agreed earlier this month to unlock 4 billion euros in financing due to the Greek government — provided Athens moved to trim government payrolls and adopt other measures demanded by its creditors by July 19. Further payments are supposed to come from the International Monetary Fund in August and then from Greece’s euro-zone partners again in October.
In his letter to the Bundestag, Deputy Finance Minister Steffen Kampeter cited the commission as saying Greece has completed 17 of 22 measures required, but the commission has not yet been able to inspect five remaining actions.
Kampeter said the commission would update the German government on the situation on Wednesday. There was no comment from the European Commission.
The euro zone working group, made up of senior treasury officials from the 17 member states, will hold a conference call on Wednesday to discuss Greece’s progress in implementing the 22 measures.
According to an EU source, the uncompleted measures are “mainly procedural steps” which could be wrapped up in time for Wednesday’s call.
“I don’t think it’s serious,” the person said of the likely delay.
(full story via MarketWatch)
PS “Wednesday”? ops! that’s today!
